It's back. And it's worse. He had been doing AWESOME! Even after a week in the kennel for vacation. Firm NORMAL poops.

Yesterday we had diarreah. Ok, I thought, it will be ok, this morning well sort of ...ok. Tonight we had blood dripping in between plops. AND of course, the vet had just closed. I am so mad at myself for not bringing in a sample this morning. Way to go me

So I'm pumping him with some drugs the vet had given me before, in attempts to stop him up and I'll start adding pumpkin in the morning. Geez. Well, we got 1 month.

Have you tried cooked hamburger? I've given it to dogs who have stomach issues and it 'dries' them right up to the point of being constipated (if you give them too much). I just mix in about 7 ounces for a 50 pound dog per feeding with the regular kibble, and then add some water until it's all floating so the dog doesn't choke on the dried up meat pieces. I don't strain out the grease, and it makes their coats super shiny, too.

randomroads wrote:Have you tried cooked hamburger? I've given it to dogs who have stomach issues and it 'dries' them right up to the point of being constipated (if you give them too much). I just mix in about 7 ounces for a 50 pound dog per feeding with the regular kibble, and then add some water until it's all floating so the dog doesn't choke on the dried up meat pieces. I don't strain out the grease, and it makes their coats super shiny, too.

no I have not. I've actually never heard that before. It seems like most dogs can have gastric issues with ground beef. Could it just be the large amount of protein that is doing it?

I really have no idea why it works, just that it has for me and a few different dogs. Maybe 4 or 5 dogs, so not a large amount but I trust it! I've heard that boiling the hamburger can make it easier to digest for the dog if he has issues with beef, but I don't have any experience with it.

I thought I should update you all since you have been so kind to help with everything you know

We have been all over the place with poop. Soft, runny, formed, no form, etc. Anything except hard or formed. We've been adding fiber, pumpkin etc. We've switched to a poultry blend and back to a red meat blend. He's had grain, no grain. It's been a mess. Meanwhile the girls have been just fine.

The thing that surprised me through this was how much my vet, despite his age, continues to be so very knowledgeable about the 'new' ways to address animal science. He's still practical but performs the tests just the same. He's awesome. We had started treating it as IBS. Then his take on it is that Capone is just nervous and needs some medication. He was telling me about a Greyhound recently where they were in the same situation and messed around for months. Added Prozac to his system and boom dog was healthy again.

After getting several opinions, a behavior assessment, vet assessment and a thorough blood and poop analysis the official diagnosis is, there is no EPI or SIBO (or bad pancreas enzyme production) which is good, but this means that his bad poop and sound sensitivities are probably connected and he needs to chill out for a while. So we're looking at keeping him calm, avoiding buses as much as possible and working his brain to relax through protocols and copious food donation from me to him. Medication is probably part of his future, but that will be ok as long as it helps his health both physical and mental.

The part that kills me is when the vet called he said, "Well, I've got some good news and some not so good news." I thought YEAH! he knows what it is. He said how he thought for sure it was EPI and that he's shocked but ALL his levels are within the normal range. Only one was a teensy elevated but he said that the other levels and that one that is a little elevated don't mean he's got it. So, I can't believe I can write this... Capone is Normal.

We'll see what happens after the recommended course. I'm not changing his diet again & we're going to see if we can control the things we can and work like hell through the things that are hard. More later on the poo front.

You probably already checked for giardiasis, I suppose. We took Austin to the e-vet last week for having diarrhea that Imodium and pumpkin didn't help and the vet thought it was giardiasis. He drinks out of streams all the time on our hikes though.